Were the 90's the last great decade?

Waaaazzzzuuuuuuup.

So some friends and I were reminiscing about old times and talking about the defining moments, attitudes and sounds of the decades we've seen (80's, 90's, 00's...we're old fogeys) and came to the conclusion the 90's were the bomb.

I mean look, 90's: the best video games evar, the best TV evar, music asploded in all directions, just enough internets, hippie love was back, wearing flannel about your waist was cool, no real war to speak of (for us the US anyway), you could get away from the phone for hours at a time and you could start a game of hacky sack with just about anyone.

What did we have the 00's? Fear, war, government out of control, tech reaching into every little aspect of your life, the freaking price of food, 8 years of Bush II, economic upheaval, etc.

The 80's were okay. I mean, we had some pretty good music, some of the fashion was cool (I still miss those ass-hugging miniskirts the girls used to wear...mmmm...) but video games were still a nascent technology and mostly consisted of running to the right, also that moral majority and Just Say No BS we were all involuntarily saturated with. Also, the cold war was still on.

This current decade has been pretty bland. The only real things of note are the miniaturization of technology, the crazy right-wing and a bunch of good artists up and dying.

Am I just getting old and out of touch or are you folks ready to don that flannel and play some hacky sack with a crocheted ball?

The '90s had the best tv shows, last great decade for music, some of the best movies, and great video games. Plus everyone from CEOs to janitors were making money on the tech bubble. Probably the last time 80+% of the worlds population was in positive mood. If only we had stayed the course in 2000, I'm still in disbelief that bush pulled off that election.

The 90's were awesome.

The 00's sucked ass and it's only going to get worse.

The 90's was when every art form other than technology peaked. Music, film etc. was at it's creative peak and we now live in times where kids listen to garbage like Drake or Wiz Khalifa and find that shit to be good. After 00' everything started to go down hill for the most part, except EDM music which reached it's peak circa 2004-5, and no EDM is not a coined term for a single genre of electronic music you confused American children. I'm a huge fan of house/trance music and have a collection of like 7,000 records. It saddens me to know that kids don't even know who John Digweed or Sasha are yet they claim to listen to electrnic music, if you can even call it that, it's more like crappy pop music with a kick drum 4/4 beat. They think that Tiesto is an amazing artist/dj when those who have listened to him since 99' know that the guy's music now is utter trash. Yea, 90's were the very peak years and the early 00's for EDM give or take. I know that dj's/producers are trying hard to bring back quality EDM music to it's true fans, but it's difficult when you live in times where kids don't care or bother to look back on what music was even as recent as 2005... they think that's prehistoric and don't respect the artists or music which made the scene. I know some kids listen to dub step but did not even know who the founding fathers of EDM are. Legends like Paul Oakenfold who was a trance god to every raver/clubber is not even known to your average kid now.

This brings a tear to my eye:

The 90s is when I was a child

So obviously, yes, the best decade ever. REM, Pearl Jam, Darkwing Duck, South Park, Batman Animated Series (with Mark Hammil as Joker), Nick at Night (Ren n Stimpy, Who's Afraid of the Dark), snap bracelets, Half-Life, Command and Conquer, Bill Clinton...

...so much good stuff.

mmmmmm

I wouldn't say last but yes, the 90s ruled!

Eh, i had fun in the 90s and 00s, both hold a place in my heart equally.

I think the 00s will suck for any person from the US.

Goddamn they don't make em' like they used to. Fuckin' 80's man, best shit ever ! Bet'chr ass man, Guns N' Roses! Rules. Crue! Yeah! Def Lep!

Then that Cobain pussy had to come around & ruin it all. Like there's something wrong with just wanting to have a good time? I'll tell you somethin', I hate the fuckin' 90's. Fuckin' 90's sucked. Fuckin' 90's sucked.

See while you and everyone else were listening to hair bands, I was all into Jane's Addiction, Black Flag, Suicidal Tendencies, Violent Femmes, Dead Milkmen, etc.

Nah, that is from this scene. I always remember it because lots of people (or at least the most vocal as it is usually) got mad about the whole 90's suck line. Ha!

I'm a proud 90's kid. Long live the 90's!

@Master_Live: lol Never seen that movie, was lost on me.

The 90's were awesome......for me, anyway.

@prickpear: Epic Tune - saw Tiesto 'live' a couple of times and its very sad to see what his music has become now. Still enjoying some of PvD older stuff but it isn't the same - I guess that's progress for you! Always gutted that I missed out on going to the Hacienda, but that's a bit too early for this topic!

The '90s was a great time to be alive. Everything peaked that decade, before everything reset with the new millennium. The '90s was the peak of gaming, movies, music, books, and magazines. It was a more peaceful time, with less war and no recession, so you didn't have to worry much about politics or economics. The internet was slow, but wasn't swamped with millions of hateful trolls like it is today. Most people didn't have mobile phones, but you didn't have to worry about getting calls all the time. Technology was also progressing at a much faster rate, making technological developments feel all the more exciting. There were a lot of great things about the '90s.

Back when you taped shit on VHS.

pfff ^^ someone is doing his homework ...

ah, 90s ... watch this till the end, DONT skip ... ^^

I just wonder what happened to the radio since the 90's. I used to be able to turn on the radio and ENJOY the music. Now it seems all the new music on the radio is utter SHIT and I just end up wanting to hear the stuff I used to hear in the 90's and early 2000's.

I definitely miss the 90's as a 90's kid. There was a TON of great stuff that came out of that decade including Nirvana AKA the band that became the cornerstone of my interest in music. Gaming wise you had the Genesis and PS1 with both had some of the most legendary games of all time, and lets not forget there was actually a time when Pokemon didn't exist! Thank God the 90's fixed that!

Can't say as much about TV as I was a kid so I wasn't watching the adult shows then. I DO think that kids entertainment was quite a bit better overall back then. There have only been a few great kids shows that have come around since the 90's, but back in the 90's Nickelodeon was absolutely God-tier level with it's programming. I think the push for pre-teen and teen shows really killed the channel.

Yeah.

'cause, free doughnuts.

Ah, 90's memories:

Bill Clinton

Michael Jordan

Nirvana

X-files

Alanis Morisette

Ocarina of Time

SNES

The Sopranos

Stone Temple Pilots

Pearl Jam

The Matrix

Jurassic Park

Diablo (original game)

Starcraft

Tomb Raider (orIginal game)

Doom / Doom 2 / Quake /Quake 2 , Id Software in general

Windows '95

AOL

56k modem

3dfx

Lollapalooza

The Smashing Pumpkins

graduating college :)

it was a great decade for people who are late 20s, early 30s.

Ahhhh the rose-tinted goggles of nostalgia.

I'll take the present decade, pls.

The 90's were the bomb yo, good times. I actually just purchased a 92 Mustang GT, cause i used to have that car back in the day. Makes me feel like i never left when driving. But also the music was on hit, and i do still listen to it. The clothing style was cool, weren't the biker shorts in during the 90's ? Lol .. It sure was a good era. Yes, games were also the bomb. Resident Evil on the PS2 was the best ever, i used to stay up all night playing that and demos. Loading times sucked though. Tomb Raider was on hit too. Yes, them days are gone my friend. I hope that we get to see a good era come though these 2000's. Hey we do have super fast internet so far. Maybe it is, were just not looking hard enough cause were living in it.

@drspoon: Well, the whole trance scene became a sad shadow of it's former self. It's now turned into dj's moving to the states to make money off of American kids with no sense of taste at festivals. America is the place where they can put in no effort into productions and play anything at gigs and still be cheered. They know that in Europe this would never happen that's why crappy Tiesto makes millions in America for producing utter crap like "Red Lights". PvD went to crap too, I mean he hasn't done anything good since Politics of Dancing 1, Ferry Corsten is terrible, and Armin plays commercial music with no soul to keep his show ASOT going.

@jdiggle

.... I miss how ravers like in this video were just themselves. Yea, clubbing was pure and was grounded deeply in European culture, oh well. I miss this feeling now. Real McCoy, you know you love it, BUMP DIS joint. Flannel pants!

Trek Trek and more Trek, not to mention Babylon 5 and of course......

Thats sounds like the track for the Need for speed game back in the day, lol .. I used to leave it on the menu page just so can hear it. Cool jams.

@prickpear: They are still producing some mixes based on original 90's Faithless tracks but most of these have lost their edge. Then you have the likes of Massive Attack who were insane. For other genres, early era A&B were great but now like you say, they seem to be catering for a younger crowd and selling to a more pop/ acoustic stuff - don't blame them really as its where the money is but it isn't what I am into. Some of the big American shows are impressive to see but they just sound off. Trance has gone home I guess.

@drspoon: Thankfully underground house is coming back strong. House will never die and was listened to be underground fans anyway. Trance is trying to make a comeback, so the dub step thing died off after a couple of years which is good. The only pop-edm artist that I can stomach and listen to is Calvin Harris. The guy knows how to make non-cheesy radio dance tracks.

@LexLas I think that track was in the original Wipeout game for PS1.

90's were awesome. i'm glad i spent my teenage years in it.

I knew i heard it somewhere before. Wipeout was great too back in them days. But the NFS had one that was dope to, i just can't remember which version it was. Sounded like that one.

Found it ! This was the bomb techy groove ! This NFS version is unforgettable for me because of its 1997 groove !

*uses technology made available in 2005 to show how awesome the 90's were...*

@Aljosa23:

I will contend it isn't nostalgia....I think the 80's and 90's were better decades, certainly in the U.S.

With nostalgia I would say the 70's, but I confess the 80's and 90's were better. The sweet spot. Great stuff going on, a lot more face to face with people. Sure, we were still using cordless phones, and there was no Facebook etc. et all, but a great time to be American, at that time the best place to live in the world all things considered.

Ah, the 90's. I assembled my first DIY PC back in 1992.

VHS, CRT, floppy drives, cassettes, a few CDs, plus I was single and a dorm rodent.

Oh ffs. America is going downhill (it was never close to the top of the hill anyway). The rest of the world for the most part keeps getting better and better. So the answer is no, as the US is rather insignificant.

Also games, tv and music of the 90s really blowed

well look at it from my perspective.... i'm a straight white non religious male.... it wasn't LEGAL to be RACIST AGAINST ME in the 90's, we didn't have people using political correctness as a weapon for STEALING OUR COUNTRY

and that's just scratching the surface.... don't even get me started on women in 2016......

anyway.... even if we ignore the really horrible stuff about this time period the 90's still kills it no contest.....

1. muslims didn't control the world... so freedom still existed

2. the government hadn't stabbed it's own people in the back yet so job's still existed.... they hadn't sent them all overseas yet.....

3. technology was at a controllable level no mobile phones taking over peoples lives ect,ect,ect i could go on about it for days but back in the 90's we had enough tech to live comfortably and safely but not enough to take over and control our lives like it does now.....

4. people we ALOT nicer back then due feminism not being the cancer cult it is today ect

lastly on the feminism it's funny to me how when '' men ruled the world in the 40's'' the focus was on family and loyality to your fellow human being.... now in 2016 ''women rule the world'' and what's the focus on ? being a selfish shit and stabbing everyone in the back for your own personal gain.... hmmmmmm... i wonder what world i'd rather be living in.......

@themajormayor:

Haha you couldn't be more wrong with everything you said, but I understand you tend to be a troll, so no more need be said there.

Things that were trendy in the 90s are awesome. People born in the 90s suck ass.

lol it certainly is nostalgia.

10 years ago people probably asked. "Were the 80's the "last great decade"? Then 10 years from now they'll ask "were the '00s the "last great decade"? And so on, and so on.

The art and creativity was amazing but,

The crime rate peaked in the 90s, technology was more primitive. It had its strengths compared to today, but also its weaknesses.

@thehig1:

I went through my 30's pretty much in the 90's, and I looked 10 years younger, so pretty much a 10 year extension of my 20's there.

I'm one of those who is always pushing forward. But, there's nothing wrong with taking a look back and reminiscing.

@Aljosa23:

I respectfully disagree...and I don't think many will call the 2000's a great decade EVER.

The 90's are very important to me.

There was great music, Nirvana!! RATM, Oasis, The brit pop scene, I discovered PC gaming, I started driving, 1994 starting going out with a sexy lady (later to become my wife). I had no children.......The world was more relaxed, people weren't so highly strung, The drugs man........not that I've EVER done such an irresponsible thing, I'm an upstanding pillar of the community! How very dare you !!!